2012 Cruze Eco 6MT, Ottawa Canada

[Blue Angel]

Hello all, a quick introduction/hello. I bought a 2012 Cruze Eco MT in July last year and have been loving it so far.

Between my easy commute and my diciplined driving practices I've been able to exceed the EPA combined rating of 33 MPG by quite a bit, currently averaging just over 42 MPG (lifetime) and able to keep that number fairly stable even considering the winter weather here (Ottawa, Ontario Canada).

A site called Ecomodder sounds like a great place for a modded Eco.

Mods are simple so far:

-Increased tire pressures
-Eibach lowering springs
-Upper grille blocked (winter)
-Oil pan heater thermostat removed

Anyway, so far so good, loving the car and looking forward to learning and participating here. I'm a certified car geek, I love everything to do with both power and efficiency. My other car is a 2002 Corvette Z06 with a few tweaks, so I have two cars that are at opposite ends of the fuel economy spectrum and love both of them for their strengths.

[2000neon]

Hey welcome to the forum. Those are great numbers, especially for so few modifications, keep it up! There's a few other local guys here from Ontario as well.

[gone-ot]

Howdy, Blue Angel, welcome to ecomodders...

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Blue Angel

love everything to do with both power and efficiency. My other car is a 2002 Corvette Z06 with a few tweaks, so I have two cars that are at opposite ends of the fuel economy spectrum and love both of them for their strengths.

Very cool - so you have two "performance cars". Nice.

Can you explain the oil pan heater mod? Is it a factory heater that prevents use outside a certain temp range? I recall that some other GM OEM block heaters had this "feature" that frustrates some of our members who would prefer to use them more than GM thinks they should be used.

Also - would love to see a pic of the car, lowered. If I recall, the Eco was already lowered slightly from the non-Eco, yes? I've only seen one Eco in person, and thought it looked quite nice.

Welcome to the forum! I'm just down the highway from you on the St. Lawrence River.

[Blue Angel]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Tele, your avater looks familiar -

Originally Posted by 2000neon

Those are great numbers, especially for so few modifications...

I honestly cannot tell whether anything I've done has added a noticeable improvement to my mileage... between the car getting more and more "broken-in" and me constantly working on my "Eco" driving skills, I think the real world efficiency is getting better. This assumption is made by the mileage staying consistent despite plummeting winter temps. Mods along the way have not made a noticeable jump in mileage, but they are generally headed in the right direction. I hope. I'm waiting to see what the summer temps bring now that the car and driver both have a little more experience.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Very cool - so you have two "performance cars". Nice.

That's exactly how I see it, both very high performance cars in completely different competitions.

Funny, the Z06 is actually quite efficient considering what it is (a +400 hp "supercar" back in its day). Aerodynamics, light weight and tall gearing allow it to cruise at around 30 MPG (US) on highway trips (EPA rates it as 28 MPG Hwy using the old pre-'08 methods). My girlfriend's '11 BMW 3-Series has an engine less than half the size and with less than half the power (2.5L 200 hp) and can barely beat that figure.

It has so much torque that it could easily use MUCH taller gearing for a significant mileage increase, but that's not really the car's purpose... it is much happier in 3rd gear wasting hypermilers!

The Cruze seems very well suited to the type of driving I'm currently doing; mostly easy commuting without too much stop-and-go. I have a very easy commute that generally follows the Ottawa river at medium speeds, averaging around 50km/h, including a long stretch with the cruise control set to around 70-75km/h (~45 MPH). The benefits of a hybrid powertrain would be few in this situation, so the good 'ol gas only Cruze seemed like a good choice.

[MetroMPG]

Yup, that sounds like a pretty ideal commute.

Most of my routes are also ideal... well I choose the ideal routes: typically the 80km/h (50 mph) secondary routes (lightly traveled country roads), rather than 401/416/417 freeways for short/moderate travel around our neck of the woods.

Re: the Vette's potential for economy, I've seen that first hand as well: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...05-a-9841.html

[Blue Angel]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Can you explain the oil pan heater mod? Is it a factory heater that prevents use outside a certain temp range? I recall that some other GM OEM block heaters had this "feature" that frustrates some of our members who would prefer to use them more than GM thinks they should be used.

GM puts a thermostat switch in the heater power cord that only closes below -18C (0F). This is done to avoid confusing the ECU diagnostics on cold starts. The ECU compares the temperature readings of the IAT and ECT sensors on a cold start, and under certain conditions if the difference between the two exceeds a certain amount, a DTC is set.

Of course, I discovered all of this information AFTER putting the oil pan heater option on the car when ordering it. The salesman asked me if I wanted the BLOCK heater, to which I said YES. Turns out it is an oil pan heater and is only rated at 200W. The option only added $65 to the cost of the car so I can't complain too much. It does exactly what it was intended to do: warm the oil during extreme low temperatures.

I took pictures of the process and will post a DIY when I get a chance.

It really is a small world... when researching block heater options I came across your site MetroMPG. I bought a Zerostart 3308002 1000W tank/circulation heater I intend to install, so we'll see if I can screw with the start-up diagnostics then.

[Blue Angel]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Re: the Vette's potential for economy, I've seen that first hand as well: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...05-a-9841.html

Sweet!

That C6 Z06 has a bigger engine and an extra 100 hp compared to my car (7.0L/505hp vs. 5.7L/405hp) so that's a disadvantage (in mileage only!), but it has a taller 6th gear (0.50 vs. 0.57) and is more aerodynamic thanks to its full hatch rear glass and a few other small tricks. Despite all of its hardware upgrades it weighs almost the same as mine, just over 3100 lbs. My car is the previous generation C5Z with the short back window and separate trunk. The C6Z is one nice machine, for sure.

EDIT: Here's a pic of mine, and a video of the demise of an unfortunate pair of GoodYears:

[MetroMPG]

That block heater page on MetroMPG.com has to be one of the top Google results on the subject of block heaters.

I could be be swinging in a hammock on a tropical island watching the traffic stats on the site and literally be able to tell whenever a cold snap has hit somewhere in North America. The traffic spikes when the temperature plummets.

[Blue Angel]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Also - would love to see a pic of the car, lowered. If I recall, the Eco was already lowered slightly from the non-Eco, yes?

...I'm just down the highway from you on the St. Lawrence River.

You're right, the Eco has the same springs as the RS package equipped cars. The drop is moderate, 10mm (0.4"), but every bit helps and they already had the parts available.

Here's a couple pics of my lowered Eco vs. a friend of mine's Eco I used to work with. His is a 2011 and is stock height, both 6MTs:





And a couple shots in better light:





And over-exposed to show the tires better:



I'm actually thinking about raising the front end slightly. It's pretty "slammed" looking, a little lower looking than the rear, and tends to bottom out on larger bumps. I think raising it 1/4" would make a big difference.

Are you anywhere near the Ogdensburg crossing? I go there every now and then to pick things up from the UPS store.